Housebuilding in the UK has risen to a 13-year high, with recently published statistics showing that the total number of new properties registered last year to be built in the country had increased by 1 percent.
The statistics published by the National House Building Council (NHBC) show that 161,022 new properties were registered with them in 2019.
The data from NHBC is collected from builders who account for approximately 80% of all new builds constructed in the UK. It is a requirement for all UK builders to register new properties with them or another warranty provider prior to work being carried out. There can be a time lag of up to 15 months between registration and the property being completed.
When looking more closely at these figures published by NHBC, new builds for affordable and rental homes were at an even higher rate, rising 13% to 48,936.
Overall, the housebuilding increase is at the highest level since the beginning of the financial crisis back in 2007.
Where will the new housing projects be in the UK?
Previously, the year before, house building growth resulted mainly from a building revival in the capital. In London, new build registrations had grown at a staggering rate, increasing 37% to 21,726.
However, plans for housing projects this year are more spread out across the country. There will be the new building development at the Commonwealth Games athletes village in Birmingham, as well as the creation of 6,500 new homes on a former army barracks site near Cambridge.
Why has there been an increase in house building projects?
A more positive economic outlook as a result of recent political developments in the UK has helped to stimulate the house building market. The landslide election result victory in December 2019, followed by the start of the transition period to leave the EU in January 2020, has had a positive impact on the property market this year.
Chris Griggs from Griggs Homes commented: “The nation has found new optimism following the outcome of last year’s election and the year has started positively. For quite some time, homeowners were on the fence about moving after waiting for the outcome election. Now that things look optimistic, we are seeing more people looking to redevelop homes, upgrade their own homes or build new homes from scratch – and they should see the value of their property increasing proportionally higher too.”
